Chapter 319: Five‑Star: Forbidden Curse Dragon Breath!

All around, the crowd was a chaotic mix of panic and commotion.

Panic is spreading!

A crisis of death is brewing.

Behind a glass window.

Ta Ke quietly examined the S‑level Seventh‑Rank Transcendent Archbishop outside.

"Truly worthy of one who returned from Mo Lei·Shen Ting,"

"Even such a forbidden spell can be evaded."

"Indeed, it takes some skill."

"Hmm… but to put it another way, the Forbidden Starburst is a large‑scale destructive sorcery, inherently involving remote casting, landing, explosion and other cumbersome steps."

"For a vigilant strongman, avoiding it isn't a big problem."

"Such a massive forbidden spell isn't meant for a single‑point breakthrough; pouring it straight into an enemy's mouth is still very difficult, unless the foe is truly cumbersome."

"If only there were a single‑target forbidden spell."

"Instantaneous and direct, impact equals destruction!"

"At the same time…"

Studying the Seventh‑Rank Archbishop's outward probing methods, Ta Ke's peripheral vision caught the outline of that Dark Curse.

"His massive Dark Curse is also highly threatening to me."

"Swallowing it outright would at least be a serious injury."

"Then I'd be the one who loses."

"A defensive forbidden spell, if encountered, must not be missed."

"But…"

Ta Ke inhaled deeply and gave a soft smile.

"The world's concealment property prevented that newcomer to the Seventh Rank from locating me; I've gained a slight tactical edge."

Ta Ke shattered the ultra‑high talent ceiling of the transcendent world, granting him mastery over the 【World】 far beyond his opponent.

"Steam… engage!"

Ta Ke gave a gentle pinch with his right hand, and the demon ring staff resonated.

"Wuu… wuu… wuu…"

As the steam core surged, a massive torrent of source‑energy steam poured out.

The next moment.

A skull‑sized Dark Explosion Bomb, like a raging storm, tracked and surged forward.

Boom—boom—boom…

The ultimate explosion of Dark Rune Secrets flattened the five‑story stone tower in an instant.

A caster of Seventh‑Rank Archbishop caliber could level a city in no time; destroying a stone tower is trivial.

Although aware that the opponent released steam source‑energy to lure an attack, Pu Te·Ya Bo had to strike.

Seizing the moment before the opponent's ecological magic net could solidify its second‑round forbidden spell.

Pu Te·Ya Bo aimed to pressure the foe as much as possible, making the second‑round forbidden spell harder to form.

A wave of Dark Explosion Orb was launched.

"Buzz!"

The spirit realm dimmed abruptly, and a gigantic palm slammed down toward Pu Te·Ya Bo.

Pu Te·Ya Bo performed a dark leap, leaving his spot.

He landed on a rooftop fifty to sixty meters away.

The massive palm, like a shadow, phase‑shifted almost simultaneously, pursued, and even closed the gap a bit.

"Hm? How could he predict so accurately?"

Pu Te·Ya Bo furrowed his brow.

"Is it the alignment with the world's trajectory and pattern?"

Pu Te·Ya Bo is an S‑level Transcendent Genius; through his "Dark Alignment" talent, when he syncs his gift with darkness, he can sense the subtle currents of the world's dark source‑energy.

Many powerful talents can, to some degree, perceive these world‑bound currents and trajectories.

He employs the 【Dark Alignment】 talent to harmonize with the dark origin.

Among the intel Pu Te·Ya Bo gathered, there is mention that the Defiler possesses S‑level 【Precision】 and 【Phase】 traits.

The opponent's current manipulation of the massive palm to chase him is exactly that.

He leapt repeatedly in the air.

Each time he descended, the huge dark‑golden palm drew ever nearer.

"Hmph!"

When Pu Te·Ya Bo landed again, he thrust a single hand forward.

As the massive dark‑golden palm neared, a dark holy shield etched with dense black rune secrets was raised with one hand.

The Spirit‑Walking Hand collided with the Dark Holy Shield.

Rumble—rumble—rumble…

The ground quaked, and the square cracked open inch by inch over twenty‑to‑thirty meters.

The source‑energy roared violently, carrying soul and dark essences, gushing like a torrent from the collision zone.

Even the spray of source‑energy infused with rune‑essence waves easily shattered large sections of wall.

"Swoosh—swoosh—swoosh…"

At the same time, countless wind blades spread over the sky like a sweeping tide.

Each wind blade contains an extremely powerful wind rune secret.

A single wind blade may not be a great threat, but the problem is that the wind blades are countless and endless, like a downpour.

He glanced at the soul‑type palm he had blocked, which still surged with force.

And at those massive wind blades roaring toward him.

He raised the dark shield to block the oncoming attacks, while Pu Te·Ya Bo was unusually cautious at this moment.

"Dual curses running together?"

"No… the ecological net‑weaver doesn't need dual curses running together."

"But he is indeed wielding witchcraft that controls and casts two rune secrets simultaneously."

"And this damned dark‑golden palm in front of me keeps strengthening."

"It has broken through the barrier between itself and the spell sequence, continuously supplying source energy to the already‑condensed spell?"

"Sss…."

Pu Te·Ya Bo inhaled a breath of cold air.

Having studied at Mo Lei·Shen Ting, he knew how difficult it was for a spell to fly ahead of its caster and still feed source energy to, and even amplify, the spell later on.

Once the stalemate began,

his shield would inevitably be exhausted.

And the opponent's attacks, as long as source energy was sufficient, would be endless and never cease.

A completely uninterrupted witchcraft assault would leave him only taking hit after hit, trapped in a fully passive state.

He thought thus.

The Legendary Dark Ring Staff in Pu Te·Ya Bo's hand was absorbing his own dark transcendent state.

When it suddenly contracted, the surrounding light warped slightly.

Immediately thereafter,

"Whoa… la…."

As the contracting power burst forth, a massive swath of darkness instantly spread outward in all directions.

The spirit‑walking hand suddenly vanished.

The wind blades fell only into the scattered dark mist, clattering.

It seemed he had long anticipated the move of the dark wizard archbishop.

"Whoa…."

A huge blaze spewed toward the scattered dark gray shadows.

In an instant, crimson flames swept the entire street, even the twilight sky turned blood‑red.

The flames seeped into the surrounding buildings, then spread along the alleys onto the streets.

"Woo… woo… woo…."

Accompanied by a deep, vast rumble of steam.

The scorching flames grew especially turbulent, as if endless.

They kept expanding toward farther streets, the whole city about to be ignited by Ta Ke's flames.

Amid the steam's roar, Ta Ke continuously poured out fierce fire.

He recklessly burned the Seventh‑tier Archbishop's transcendent state.

At the same time!

Within the spread of ultimate darkness.

A dazzlingly brilliant red light surged and blossomed.

"Forbidden spell!"

Examining that brilliant yet subtle red light, Ta Ke's expression grew increasingly solemn.

"And it's a single‑target lock‑type forbidden spell."

"It expands its own darkness, radiating over several streets, and locks onto me according to a special forbidden‑spell property."

"Even if they use their transcendent state and defense to endure my fire, they still must cast the forbidden spell to snipe me—this is their ultimate hidden technique?"

Ta Ke swiftly activated World Alignment Precision·High‑Dimensional·Correction.

For such a singular, extreme aim, one must counter with 'Correction.'

You want precision; I'll make you imprecise.

Meanwhile,

Deep in the darkness, Pu Te·Ya Bo suddenly triggered the second forbidden spell he had painstakingly cultivated.

Destiny Zero Point Starfall.

Following the destiny trajectory and context.

A strand of red light pierced hundreds of meters in an unbelievably swift flash.

Then, with a "whoosh."

Dozens of residential buildings were pierced almost simultaneously.

From the points where the red light pierced, cracks spread like spiderwebs, quickly permeating every corner of the buildings.

Rumble…

Dozens of residential buildings collapsed in all directions with cracking.

The reason it was only dozens of buildings is that there were no more beyond; after this ultimate forbidden‑spell light pierced those buildings, it crossed the city wall and struck the distant wilderness outside the city.

In Ta Ke's visual field, the end of that red light was nowhere to be seen.

"That hit was way too far, huh!"

"The power is absurdly strong."

"If it gets hit, the transcendent state would probably collapse and be severely damaged."

Observing the forbidden‑spell attack whose trajectory he had twisted and deviated, Ta Ke pondered.

【Precision·High‑Dimensional·Correction】 The restraint is the ultimate single point.

When the ultimate forbidden‑spell beam strikes.

Ta Ke, using 【High‑Dimensional Vision】, had already seen that this was a destiny‑lock.

Then Ta Ke employed 【World】 to warp the surrounding destiny trajectories, and used 【High‑Dimensional·Correction】 to continuously adjust the aimed path of the forbidden‑spell light across a wide area.

And thus successfully deflected the point of that forbidden‑spell attack.

Rather than saying the opponent's aim was off, it's better to say the opponent was too accurate.

Because it was too accurate, it was easy to be deflected.

As the ultimate forbidden spell pierced through a dozen or so skyscrapers.

In the depths of darkness, the transcendent state was scorched, and even began to affect Pu Te Ya Bo of the "Transcendent Sequence"; his complexion darkened as his dark state approached.

"Hit… hit off target!"

Pu Te Ya Bo, his throat a bit dry, found it hard to accept the outcome, but the fact remained.

That Fifth‑rank Defiler seemed capable of countering his destiny‑lock technique.

Such a method is certainly not something ordinary evasion can dodge.

Before this, many had tried to evade this move, but all ended in failure.

Feeling the bizarre puppet threads constantly surfacing on his body.

Pu Te Ya Bo knew clearly that if he didn't move now, he would be unable to escape.

Both sides fought tooth and nail, each second a contest of tactics and confrontations.

He took damage, and with the forbidden spell missing, he was already at a disadvantage.

"Retreat!"

Gugugu…

The continuously emerging black bubbles ripped away all the puppet threads.

Then Pu Te Ya Bo's dark state shattered into hundreds of dark shadows, scattering toward the underground, the Dark Realm, the Spirit Realm, the Shadow Realm, and all directions outside the real city.

Seeing many "Pu Te Ya Bo" fleeing in all directions, Ta Ke lightly rubbed his brow.

"Seeing the momentum off, they ran immediately; that's just… a bit cowardly."

"The black wizard has many survival tricks; he's hard to catch up with."

"Even if I caught up, his two forbidden spells pose a considerable threat to me."

"Besides… there's no need to chase; that guy… he can't get away!"

"Keeping him might be useful later."

Ta Ke lowered his head to glance at the small "High‑Dimensional Destiny Thread" he held, which was Pu Te Ya Bo's high‑dimensional thread.

When Ta Ke's attack landed on the opponent, he silently seized a fragment of the opponent's high‑dimensional destiny thread.

After securing the thread, Ta Ke looked toward the ruined city below.

The Sixth‑rank Bishop Knight that Ta Ke had ignited earlier was engulfed in flames, scrambling to flee.

Carrying Ta Ke's divine flame and still running that fast, it was quite a feat.

Ta Ke came this time mainly to capture the bishop, so it was inevitable.

After catching up, after several rounds of grappling, Ta Ke easily seized the Sixth‑rank Bishop Knight and then, without delay, departed swiftly.

A few hours later, three Grand Bishop squads arriving with intel surveyed the half‑burned city‑state; their expressions were no better than Pu Te Ya Bo's.

What worried them most was another piece of information.

Namely, after the S‑rank transcendent prodigy Pu Te Ya Bo of Seventh‑rank Grand Bishop level sparred with the Defiler Ta Ke.

Ta Ke's strength was on par with Pu Te Ya Bo's.

Although Pu Te Ya Bo had only recently ascended to Seventh rank, he still possessed Sixth‑rank foundation.

But the problem is,

Ta Ke was only Fifth rank.

For a moment, even those Seventh‑rank Grand Bishops felt a hint of unease.

If a small squad like theirs pursued Defiler Ta Ke, and actually met him,

Who would kill whom is now hard to say.

Qianya Mermaid Island.

Above the Three‑Ring High Tower.

"The number of sunken ships in the Sunken Ship Market has increased considerably compared to before."

"This war is getting more and more intense."

"Even…"

Ta Ke looked toward the front of Qianya Mermaid Island, at the World Barrier Passage leading to the western continent's ocean.

"Faintly, one can still hear the soft rumble of the Sea Demon turret."

Standing by the window, Ta Ke, through the bright floor‑to‑ceiling window, quietly surveyed the situation on Qianya Mermaid Island.

In the area shielded by an energy barrier not far from the room, Grand Bishop Lei Ya Ge sat at a desk, scribbling something.

A few days ago, Ta Ke returned from the Eastern Continent and took a short rest.

Today I was invited by Archbishop Lei Yage to formally participate in the war plan against the Stone Demon Statue Empire of the Eastern Continent.

Whether it's the fierce fighting over many nodes of the dual-world barriers,

or the current standoff between the two armies on Qianya Merfolk Island, a war of strong against strong.

The root of it all lies in the Eastern Continent, the Stone Demon Statue Empire.

As long as we destroy the Eastern Continent's Stone Demon Statue Empire and destroy the foundation on which the Dark Sun Church relies for survival,

then the war will naturally end.

"Creak!" the door was pushed open.

A female expert of the Ocean Merfolk Clan wearing a blue robe walked in.

Her appearance is no different from a human's, except that most of her body is covered with scales imbued with water-system runes.

"Water-system extraordinary defense and body, the extraordinary state is nearly fused into one."

"Obviously, whether it's a higher extraordinary state, the means of extraordinary defense, or the mastery of rune profundities, it is far superior to many seventh-rank extraordinaries."

"At the very least, it is far superior to that S-rank extraordinary genius, Put Aber."

"Put Aber is around level seventy-one or seventy-two, having only recently ascended to the seventh rank."

"As for this Ocean Seer, she is already level seventy-nine, and she has the foundation to ascend to the eighth rank."

Taku, after a moment's thought, bowed and said, "Greetings, Ocean Seer Mage Ben, senior."

After sizing up Taku from head to toe for a moment, Ocean Seer Mage Ben showed a slight relieved smile on her face.

"A few days ago I heard that Your Excellency the Divine Favored One has been causing the Stone Demon Statue Empire no end of trouble in the Eastern Continent, leaving them helpless."

"Your Excellency the Divine Favored One has only just reached the fifth rank; if you had the sixth or even seventh rank,"

"the Stone Demon Statue Continent would not be something to fear."

Taku humbly said, "Seer Your Excellency, you overpraise me."

"Please have a seat!"

Ocean Seer Mage Ben said gently.

After the two sat down, Mage Ben pondered briefly before speaking.

"Archbishop Lei Yage previously said, you want to exchange for some powerful arcane arts on our Qianya Merfolk Island?"

"Yes."

Taku nodded.

"I see the Military Supplies Department has third- and fourth-rank Heroic Spirit Dragon Breath arcane arts; I wonder… whether there are any fifth- or even sixth-star Dragon Breath arcane arts? Or perhaps other powerful single-target forbidden spell arcane arts?"

"We don't have sixth-star Dragon Breath arcane arts or single-target forbidden spell arcane arts here on the Merfolk Island."

"However, our Merfolk clan does have three copies of the fifth-star Dragon Breath arcane art in our collection."

"Three copies of fifth-star Dragon Breath secret arts?"

Taku raised an eyebrow.

"Did you raid a dragon's lair?"

"Indeed, it is the deep heritage of these long-lived tribes that is substantial."

"Stability is the primary productive force; the system never deceives me!"

"Could you explain the effects and characteristics of each of these three fifth-star Dragon Breath secret arts?"

Taku asked while thinking.

After consecutively slaying many sixth-rank powerhouses on the Eastern Continent, Taku has accumulated considerable resources.

Naturally, he can afford the price of this fifth-star forbidden spell arcane art.

Even if the other party looks down on those scattered materials.

Taku's traditional refining craftsmanship can still earn him a modest living.

"The three Dragon Breath forbidden spell arcane arts are all Heroic Spirit Dragon Breath secret arts."

"At the very least, they require the consumption and digestion of lord-rank dragon materials to master a sufficiently powerful forbidden-rank Dragon Breath exhalation in the Heroic Spirit recall."

"The first Dragon Breath secret art leans toward large-scale incineration."

"A single exhalation of forbidden-rank Dragon Breath into the depths of the firmament summons a torrential forbidden-rank fire rain; if the source energy is abundant, one breath can wipe out a city-state without issue."

"I recall, Your Highness the Divine Favored One, your fire arcane art possesses such a formidable means, right?"

"Hehe… senior, you really know quite a lot about my methods." Taku said lightly.

Mage Ben gave a light laugh.

"Your Highness the Divine Favored One, your methods and arcane abilities have long been compiled into books, sold everywhere, and moreover, steam newspapers everywhere have reported on your related arcane abilities."

"Your imitators are many; for example, the ordinary fire oil bomb arcane art, because in your hands it shines extraordinarily, the number of mages who study this kind of arcane art is countless."

"In many places, if you can't roll a fire oil bomb, you'd be embarrassed to call yourself a mage."

Mage Ben's words made Taku unconsciously rub his brow.

"Cough cough… have I also brought about this bad trend?"

"Then what about the second one?"

Taku asked.

"The second forbidden spell arcane art leans toward an extreme fire-driven Dragon Breath."

"It places greater emphasis on the destructive power of the fire ability itself."

"If one possesses a special fire talent, or has a deep comprehension of fire rune profundities,"

"this second arcane art is actually a good choice."

"Then comes the third forbidden spell Dragon Breath arcane art."

"The third forbidden spell Dragon Breath arcane art is rather unique; it can condense the exhaled Dragon Breath power in two stages, forming a tremendously destructive Dragon Breath·Star Eclipse Arrow."

"This third-level Dragon Breath Forbidden Spell has two forms, which is very rare in witchcraft."

"As Ma Ge·Ben finished her explanation."

"Ta Ke carefully pondered the three-star five-star Dragon Breath Forbidden Spell."